Water-closet.



Patented Sept. l8, I900.-

P. J. MADDEN.

WATER CLOSET.

(Application filed Mar. '1, 1895.)

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No. 657,989. Patented Sept. 18, I900.

P. J; MADDEN.

WATER CLOSET.

(Application filed Mar. 1, 1895,,

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PATRICK J. MADDEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS v WATER-.CLOS ET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No; 657,989, datedSeptember 18, 1900.

Application filed March 1,1895. Serial No. 540,162. (No model.)

v To aZZ whom, it may concern/. Be it known that I, PATRICK J. MADDEN, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Ohioago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Water-Closets, of which the following is a specification. V

For the purposes of this application I have shown the several featuresof the invention embodied in what is known in the art as a range-closet,or, in other words, a closet in which there is a range or series ofbowls and mechanism for simultaneously flushing all of them, and whilethere are some features of the invention that are applicable only to acloset of this class, still I desire to have it understood that thereare other features that are applicable to a closet having only a singlebowl or a number of bowls having separate flushing devices.

The invention-consists in the features of novelty that are particularlypointed out in claims hereinafter, and in order that it may be fullyunderstood I will describe it with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, which are'made a part of this specification, and in which-Figure 1 is a front elevation of a watercloset embodying theinvention.Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof with the seats omitted. Figs. 3 and 4 arevertical sections thereof on the lines 3 3 and 4 4, respectively, Figs.1 and 2. Fig. 5 is a detail View.

I will first describe those features of the invention that areapplicable to water-closets generally without regard to the number ofbowls used, as all of said features are shown in the drawings as beingembodied in the cen-' tral bowl A of the range-closet. This bowl has atbottom a flange B, which surrounds its discharge-opening a and issecured by bolts to a flange O on the trap D. This trap is of the siphonvariety, and a jet-opening E is arranged to throw a jet of water upwardinto its short limb cl. The jet-opening is supplied with water from achamber D, located in the base of the trap, and this chamber is suppliedwith water through a pipe F,having a socketed branch f for receiving thesupply-pipe G and a second branch H, that communicates with a chamber A,located at the back of the bowl.

Ordinarily in cast-iron closets the jet-openthe top d of said chamber byboring.

ing is the result of intersecting holes bored or cored in the base ofthe trap, and consequently it takes the form of a bent passage of thesame diameter from end to end, one

end of which opens into the bottom of the short limb of the siphon,while the other end opens at the side of the base and communicates withthe pipe that supplies it; but acber D, the cross-sectional area ofwhich is much larger than that of the jet-opening proper, and I form thejet-opening through In order todo this, an opening is made in the bottomof the chamber and this opening is afterward closed bya plug 01. Thischam- ;ber is a decided advantage, as it enables the jet-opening to belocated with exactness, and

it also reduces to a minimum the amount of boring that is necessary toform it. Further- .more, it has an advantage that manifests itself inthe operation of the device. Where .the opening consists simply of abent passage of uniform diameter, the direction that the water takesupon leaving it depends to 'a greater or less extent upon the bends andcontortionsof the passage itself, but with this chamber of greatercross-sectional area than the jet-opening the water has a chance tosubside before entering the jet-opening,

and from said opening it-will be delivered in I a solid jet, the courseof which will be true to the direction of the opening.

I am aware that it has been proposed to provide an earthenware closetwith a chamber located in the base thereof and having through its topwall a jet-opening which directs a jet of water upward into the shortleg of the siphon, and I do not claim, broadly, to be the inventorofsuch a chamber. So far as the present invention relates to this chamberit is confined exclusively to cast-iron closets, and its object is toprovide for the practical and economical construction thereof.

.The chamber A is intregalwith the bowl and has in one of its sides anopening with which the branch H of thepipe'comm unicates. The back partof the bowl forms the front wall a of the chamber, and through this wallare formed three openings at", as shown more clearly in Fig. 5, two ofwhich diverge and discharge jets of water into the hollow rim and towardthe sides of the bowl, while the other discharges straight forward intosaid rim and supplies the back part of the bowl.

Ordinarily the branching pipe FfH 18 made" up of a number of separatesections united by threaded elbows, but according to the presentinvention it consists of a single casting having laterally-projectingends and having at one end flanges f for the passage of screws by whichthat end is secured tothe side of the chamber D and at the other endflanges f by which it is secured to the side of the chamber A. It hasalso, at an intermediate point, flanges f by which it is secured to theleg 61 of the trap and in this way it is made to serve the purpose of abrace fol-sustaining the upper portion of the bowl.

All of the features thus fardescri bed may be used in a closet havingonly a single bowl or a number of bowls having independent flushingdevices, and on the other hand they are not essential features of thepresent invention so far as it relates to a range-closet. I prefer,however, to use them on the central bowl.

I will now describe those features of the invention that are applicableonly to a rangecloset.

I I are bowls arranged upon both sides of the central bowl. As shown inthe drawings, only one bowl is arranged upon each side of the centralbowl, and while this is sufficient for the purpose of illustrating theseveral novel features of the improved closet still I desire to have itunderstood that my invention is not limited in this respect, andexcepting where the contrary is expressly made to appear the term rangeas used in this specification means two or more.

From the common supply-pipe G branch pipes J J extend in oppositedirections to opposite ends of the range, and from these branches all ofthe bowls I are supplied through other branches K, that comm unicatewith the chambers A, from which water for flushing the bowls is suppliedto them.

A feature peculiar to range-closets is that all of the bowls empty intoa horizontal pipe (called the range-pipe) arranged beneath them, andthis pipe discharges into the soilpipe through a single trap. Therange-pipe is preferably made up of a number of separate sections L, andeach of the bowls is integral with one of these sections. It joins thesides of the bowl preferably at such height that the lower side of thepipe forms the bottom of the bowl and projects in opposite directionstherefrom. The ends of the several sections are provided with flanges l,and the meeting flanges on the ends of adjacent sections are securedtogether by bolts. To the flanges at the outer extremities of the endsection are bolted plates M, that close the ends of said sections, andthrough these plates are tapped pipes N, that form continuations of thebranches J J These pipesN are of much smaller capacity than therangepipe, and they are adapted to discharge jets of Water thereinto.

The operation of this closet is as follows: At each flushing operationwater enters the rims of all of the bowls, and jets of water aredischarged into the range-pipe at its opposite ends and into the shortleg of the siphon.- The siphonic action of the trap itself aided by theaction of the jet produces a powerful suction and exhausts the waterfrom the central bowl, and thereby causes water to flow from oppositeends of the range-pipe toward and into the central bowl, the tendency ofthe water to take this course being very materially increased by thejets that are discharged into the opposite ends of the rangepipe.

I am aware that in a water-closet having a single bowl a jet has beendischarged upward into the short leg of the siphonic trap; but I am notaware that a jet (technically so called) was ever discharged into therangepipe of a range-closet prior to my invention. The effect ofdischarging this jet into the range-pipe is to produce a powerful flowof water through it, and unless the trap be efficient the bowl nearestit will be oven-flooded. Hence it is almost imperative that a jet bedischarged into the trap Where a jet is discharged into the range-pipe,and this is especially so where the range includes many bowls and therange-pipe discharges into a trap located beneath one of them.

I am aware that it has been proposed to discharge the water for flushinga range of bowls into the opposite ends of the range-pipe; but this isnot the equivalent of the present invention, which contemplatesintroducing the flushingwater into the bowls themselves through openingslocated a bove the dischargeopenings and at the same time introducinginto the range-pipe a jet or jets. This term jet is used in thisspecification in a technical sense, and means a small stream of waterintroduced into and through a larger body of water for the purpose ofintroducing a current in the latter. Prior to my invention it was neverproposed to introduce such a jet "into the range-pipe of a range-closet.

The bowl A is spoken of in this specification as the central bowl, andwhile it is preferred to have it truly the central bowl still this isnot essential, and hence I desire to have it understood that this termis to be construed liberally, so as to include any intermediate bowl ofthe range toward which the water flows from both ends of the range.

The wall between the two legs of the siphon is of such height thatnormally the entire range is filled With Water to the level indicated bythe dotted line in Fig. 4. The supports for the bowls I are madeadjustable in order to relieve the range-pipe of strain that would comeupon it if the floor were uneven and non-adjustable supports were used.These supports preferably consist of a screw 0, having right and leftthreads, a boss P on I the under side of the bowl having a threadedsocket for receiving one end of the screw, and a base or foot Q, havinga threaded socket for receiving the other end of the screw, the

screw being provided at an intermediate point with a feature 0 forreceiving an implement for turning it.

What I claim as new is 1. In a water-closet, the combination with a bowlhaving an opening for the admission of water to its rim and a trapcommunicating with the bowl at bottom, whence it proceeds upward, andhaving a jet-opening, of an integral pipe having laterally-projectingends and having at its lower end a flange bolted to the lower portion ofthe trap, at its upper end a flange bolted to the bowl, and at anintermediate point a flange bolted to an intermediate portion of thetrap whereby the bowl and trap are braced againsteach other, the bowland trap having passages through which the pipe communicates with therim-opening and jet-opening, respectively, substantially as set forth.

2. In a water-closet, the combination of a range of bowls havingdischarge-openings, and rim-openings of sufficient capacity to admit avolume of Water sufficient for flushing purposes, a range-pipe withwhich the discharge-openings of all the bowls communicate, a trap, meansfor supplying the rimopening of each of the bowls with a sufficientquantity of water for flushing purposes, a jetopening of very muchsmaller capacity than the range-pipe arranged to discharge a jet ofwater thereinto, and means for supplying said jet-opening with water,substantially as set forth.

3. In a water-closet, the combination of a range of bowlshavingdischarge-openings and rim-openings of sufficient capacity toadmit a volume of water sufficient for flushing purposes, a range-pipewith which the dischargeopenings of allthe bowls communicate, a trap,means for supplying the rim-openings of each of the bowls with aquantity of water sufficient for flushing purposes, means fordischarging a jet of water into the trap, a jetopening of very muchsmaller capacity than the range-pipe arranged to discharge a jet ofwater thereinto, and means for supplying the jet-opening with water,substantially as set forth.

4. In a water-closet the combination of a range of bowls havingdischarge-openings and rim-openings of sufficient capacity to admit avolume of water sufficient for flushing purposes, a range-pipe withwhich the dischargeopenings of all the bowls communicate, means forsupplying the rim-openings of all the bowls with a volume of watersufficientforflushing purposes, jet-openings of very much smaller avolume of water sufficient for flushing purposes, a range-pipe withwhich the'dischargeopenings of all the bowls communicate, means forsupplying the rim-openings of all the bowls with a volume of watersuflioient for flushing purposes, jet-openings arranged to dischargejets of water into the .opposite ends of the range-pipe, means forsupplying said j et-openings with water, a trap communicating with thedischarge-openin g of an intermediate bowl of the range, a jet-openingarranged to discharge a jet of water into one leg of the trap, and meansfor supplying said jet-opening with water, substantially as set forth.

6. In a water-closet the combination of-a range of bowls havingdischarge-openings and rim-openings of sufficient capacity to admit avolume of water sufficientfor flushing purposes, a range-pipe with whichthe dischargeopenings of all the bowls communicate, a trap communicatingwith the discharge-opening of an intermediate bowl of the range, awatersupply pipe common to all of said bowls havinga branchcommunicating with the rimopening of each bowl, and a branch extendingto'each end of therange-pipe, and jetopenings at each end of therange-pipe with which the branches last aforesaid-communicate,substantially as set forth.

7. In a water-closet the combination with a range of bowls havingdischarge-openings and rim-openin gs of suflicient capacity to admit avolume of water sufficient for flushing purposes, a range-pipe withwhich the discharge-openings of all of the bowls communicate, a trapcommunicating with the discharge-opening of an intermediate bowl of therange, a jet-opening arranged opposite one leg of the trap, awater-supply pipe communicating with the rim-openings of all of thebowls and with the jet-opening of the trap, said pipe having branchesextending to the ends of the range-pipe, and jet-openings with which thelast-named branches communicate, said jet-openings being arranged todischarge jets ofwater into the range-pipe from opposite ends thereof,substantially as' set forth.

P. J. MADDEN.

Witnesses:

S. OHAIR'E, L. M. HOPKINS.

